Tag-Archive for » Cancer «
For such a small gland (it’s roughly the size of a walnut), the prostate has a very important job. If a man didn’t have a prostate, the sperm couldn’t survive. The main purpose of the prostate is to produce fluid and other compounds that help support sperm survival.
Prostate cancer affects many men each year. Screening includes a digital rectal exam, tests for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS). Each of these tests takes less than half an hour to perform.
The age-old question is, “Are they effective”?
New Mayo Clinic research studied the association between prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and prostate size and found that routine annual evaluation of prostate growth is not necessarily a predictor for the development of prostate cancer. However the study suggests that if a man’s PSA level is rising quickly, a prostate biopsy is reasonable to determine if he has prostate cancer. Researchers are working on developing effective methods to screen for prostate cancer. However, it has not yet been shown that screening for prostate cancer decreases the chances of dying from prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be about 179,300 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States this year, and about 37,000 men will die of this disease. For an American man, the lifetime risk of dying from prostate cancer is 3.4%.
Although men of any age can get prostate cancer, it is found most often in men over age 50. In fact, more than 8 of 10 men with prostate cancer are over the age of 65.
African-American men are at higher risk than Caucasian men. Men with a family history of prostate cancer are at higher risk too. Family history means that your father or a brother had prostate cancer.
The prostate gland is part of the male reproductive system. The prostate makes a fluid that mixes with sperm and other fluids during ejaculation. A normal prostate is about the size of a walnut.
Your doctor may examine your prostate by putting a gloved, lubricated finger a few inches into your rectum to feel your prostate gland. This is called a digital rectal exam. A normal prostate feels firm. If there are hard spots on the prostate, your doctor may suspect cancer. A more sensitive test measures prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, a protein manufactured by the prostate gland. An elevated level indicates an abnormality of the prostate.
An elevated PSA can be due to benign prostatic hypertrophy (an enlarged prostate), which affects nearly all men as they grow old. It can also signal prostatitis, an inflammation of the prostate. Both conditions may or may not warrant treatment, depending on the severity of symptoms. Neither problem is potentially fatal. But a high PSA level could indicate cancer.
An abnormal PSA test often leads to a biopsy to determine if cancer is present. In recent years, health professionals have questioned whether the PSA test is an effective way of detecting prostate cancer. Does it miss too many cancers? Does it lead to too many unnecessary biopsies? Is there a better way to screen for prostate cancer?
Although the PSA test is not perfect, it is the best currently available test for early detection of prostate cancer. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a protein made in the prostate. Normally, very little should be found in the blood. Rising levels of PSA in the blood indicate a problem with the prostate, which could be cancer but could also be an enlarged prostate (BPH).
While the PSA test is considered a major advance in diagnosing early-stage prostate cancer, it has some drawbacks. For 100 men over 50 at average risk for prostate cancer, the following would be found if they all had a PSA test:
Ten of the 100 men would have a PSA level higher than normal (over 4.0). The 10 men would need further testing to clarify their abnormal levels.
Three of the 10 men would be found to have prostate cancer.
Seven of the 10 men would be found not to have prostate cancer. They would have an elevated PSA for other reasons—most likely an enlarged prostate (BPH).
Ninety of the 100 men would have PSA levels in the normal range (less than 4.0).
One or 2 of these 90 men would be found to have significant prostate cancer that becomes life threatening.
This shows that the PSA test is moderately sensitive. Of 100 men with prostate cancer, it will detect only about 70 of them. But the positive predictive value of the PSA test is low. Only 3 out of 10 positive results were cancer. And 7 out of 10 positive PSA results (i.e., greater than 4.0) are false-positive results; this means that 2 out of 3 men who are told that they may have cancer after taking the PSA test actually do not have it. When the PSA is greater than 10.0, the test is more accurate. There is about a 50-50 chance of having cancer at this level of PSA!
Other things you and your doctor may want to consider:
Your age. Doctors may use Age-adjusted PSA ranges to account for the natural increase in PSA with age when considering further testing.
The size of your prostate. PSA Density is a measure that relates your PSA level to the size of your prostate, to account for the increase in PSA caused by prostate enlargement.
Your weight. Body Mass Index, a measure of obesity, may also be a factor. The relationship between obesity and lower PSA levels may cause doctors to miss early prostate cancer cases in overweight men.
Ejaculation within 48 hours before taking a PSA test can also cause a higher reading of your PSA level.
Refinements of the PSA test have been developed to reduce the number of false positive results. If your PSA is found to be high, ask your primary healthcare practitioner to discuss your cancer risk and the possible use of other evaluations of PSA before having a biopsy. Men should be counseled about the benefits and risks of detecting and treating an indolent tumor (this cancer may not have caused symptoms). The treatment may cause urinary and sexual problems.
Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of the PSA test is not to decide who should be biopsied and who should not. It is to save lives.
Thank you Mr. Glenn Ellis
In a recent interview for “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” he was still in a good mood and had high hopes to defeat the cancer he had just been diagnosed to have. In fact, I did not expect him to show up to do interviews. “This is unfortunate timing,” Douglas declared, “but I’m doing fine.
“I’m very proud of the picture. My doctors are optimistic. I’m optimistic and obviously a combination of radiation everyday and chemo limits a full day but everybody did a fantastic job and life goes on. This is just another chapter. I’ve had a pretty good run of it and this was a pretty bad year. It’s going to be topped off with a really good movie.” It’s actually a great film that is the epitome of the greed that put this country in a tailspin the current administration is trying to bring us out.
Douglas plays the iconic character Gordon Gekko who went to jail in the 1987 “Wall Street” film for securities fraud. Gekko’s mantra back then, “Greed is Good,” not only toppled this country’s economy, but is the concern of many in all walks of life.
Greed was the subject of Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III (Abyssinian Baptist Church) a weeks ago and he also referred to the book, “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.” If advice is to be given out to young people branching out during this iffy financial period, is it, “Keep your day job,” Douglas chuckled.
Amen my brother, amen!
CANCER, THE CRAB
6/22 to 7/22
Well thank you for coming to the party. Life can be good if you have the patience to
wait for the outcome. At times you can by shy, but adamant about your wants or
needs. Networking with all kinds of people and opening your mouth will get you
where you want to be. Learn to love convincingly, not conditionally.
Money matters will start to clear up after Sept. 12, yipeeeee. It’s been somewhat
of strain lately, that will change my friend. Time to start building up your armor
that is of faith in yourself, that you will survive no matter what.
This month begins a new eclipse season. We will have two eclipses very soon, a lunar eclipse on June 26 in Capricorn (full moon) and the other will arrive as a solar eclipse in Cancer (new moon) on July 11.
If you haven’t read my June 2010 forecast on Astrology Zone that I have prepared for you, please do, for the first eclipse that is arriving this month might turn out to be quite intense for the world. If you are within a certain mathematical range, you might feel the eclipse in a more personal way.
Eclipses aren’t like any other phenomenon in astrology. They strike quickly and in unusual ways. Often the catalyst to change is triggered by an outside event that has nothing to do with you or anything you did, but that will come in and change certain elements in your life anyway. I feel it’s the universe’s way to keep us on our toes and flexible. Also, eclipses look for broken or outdated situations to sweep away to help you make room for the new. Some eclipses are shocking or jarring and others are harbingers of good news.
The coming June 26 eclipse will have an especially strong impact because Uranus will be in sharp angle to the full moon eclipse and Sun. Also, Saturn will oppose Uranus and Jupiter, while Pluto will conjoin the full moon and argue with the other planets. All will square off at 90 degrees to each other, or stare at one another at 180 degrees, forming a cross pattern in the sky – this is considered stressful.
We have not seen such an extreme eclipse in years. Actually, astrologers have gone back 500 years and we have not been able to find anything like the one that is due June 26. Let me reiterate that not everyone will feel the events of June 26, and that is an important point. Please check my June report to see if you might feel some changes. I always feel it is best to know something may come up, so that I can have a flexible schedule to respond to any event that I might have to decide upon.
Events that come up as a result of an eclipse have more weight than events brought on by a normal new or full moon. In fact, an eclipse is like a turbo-new or full moon – it packs much more energy and punch and feels like three rolled into one. An eclipse may even bring on an event that seems “fated.” Eclipses always bring unexpected changes of direction.
The eclipse does not have to fall in your sign to affect you, but it would have to be within a ten-degree range of a natal planet in your chart. In this case you would need a natal planet within ten degrees of 5 degrees of a cardinal sign: Aries, Libra, Cancer, or Capricorn. I can’t see your chart from here, so it’s just wise to wait and see. With Uranus so prominent, what comes up will be completely unexpected anyway, coming out of left field, but I can narrow things down for you.
Eclipses in the same family of signs tend to be connected like pearls on a necklace. It is as though the universe realizes that we can’t handle too much big news all at once, so it is divided up into pieces. We are given news of something that is changing or needs to be changed, but further information does not come until the next eclipse, at which time we are ready to move forward.
For this reason, think back to what occurred on December 31 and just after January 15 for clues, for those were the last times we had eclipses in this family of signs.
Eclipses shine the bright light of truth on the part of your life that is touched by the eclipse. Most of the time, eclipses act as brilliant illuminators, revealing a condition that you were unaware existed. They can also act as catalysts to a major life decision. Also under an eclipse, you may finally understand the true character of a person near you.
With all eclipses, something ends and something else begins. During an eclipse period, you may feel like you are walking across a bridge to a new place of the mind and heart, but with no ability to turn back to where you started. Said another way, the door of part of your old life will slam shut and lock tightly behind you as you walk over the threshold. You won’t be able to go back to your old life after the eclipse, but upon reflection, you might not want to anymore. You have grown, and now you are ready to face the future with all the surprises and gifts the universe will have ready for you. Armed with the necessary facts, you will now understand a mystery that was never clear to you before. The universe wants us to embrace all that is new, not go back to the old tried and true.
In about six months, we will have another set of eclipses coming on December 21, a total lunar eclipse (full moon) in late degrees of Gemini and on January 4, 2011, a solar eclipse (new moon) in Capricorn. The December 21 eclipse will begin to usher in a new series of eclipses in Gemini-Sagittarius, just as the old series of Cancer-Capricorn, begun last summer on June 7, 2009, begins to wind down and officially end on July 1, 2011. Often when a new family of signs starts up, an old family of signs ends.
Thank you Susan for the update.
Never too soon to get healthy!
Johns Hopkins Update – Very Good Article
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (‘TRY’, BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .
Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person’s lifetime.
3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
but also to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet to eat more adequately and healthy, 4-5 times/day
and by including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7.. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small
amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in
color Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat,
like chicken. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including be an sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C)..
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells.. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave..
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
CANCER
June 21st to July 22nd
Symbol: The Crab
Are you sado-masochistic or something, just as you clear one hurdle here you go again. Stop letting folks at work push your buttons, you are so much better than that. Just give them that Crab look you are famous for with claws showing, lol lol lol.
Now is the time to make that move house, apartment, room, do it this month. Or at leastget the paper work going on it. Your summer will be filled with various events, just pace yourself and don’t over do.
Also it is time to sit down and have some honest conversations with certain folks. Stop sugar coating your ideas, or interpretations, tell it like it is, and be done with it! Know your limits. Hold on to boundaries.
If certain people have been on your mind, it may be time to reach out, and see what is going on with them.
This is a month for you Cancer to reflect and enjoy yourself……
Hello Cancer, how the hell are ya?!? Like is definitely making you stay out of the shell for a
minute uh? It’s all good my Sista/Brutha it’s call growth. Please stay on top of your meds,
and keep your stress to an acceptable healthy level. If that is not possible then take a few deep
breathes during a hour while at work or at home, and see don’t that help. Mind over matter works
every time, just try it sometimes.
You also have some brilliant ideas, try writing them down. When you feel comfortable submit them to your
boss and see where it leads you. (Just don’t do it during Mercury Retrograde next month in April)
Finance – You know how old folks would say – “A Hard Head Makes a Soft Azz”, that’s you and money.
You are either spend thrifty, or don’t give a damn, and regret it later. Be careful what you ask for.
Relationships – Folks are waiting on you single folks to get it together, at your earliest convenience plz.
Married folks you are fine and dandy! (smile)
Cancer Killing Virus Discovered. The medical world could realize a major breakthrough in defeating Cancer. AOL’s Daily Finance interviewed CEO, Dr. Brad Thompson, of Calgary-based biotechnology company, Oncolytics Biotech regarding the founding his company. The company was founded on the trail to making the remarkable cancer treatment that involves infecting patients with a harmless virus called a reovirus (Respiratory Enteric Orphan virus). The virus, for some reason, likes to grow in and kill cancer cells rather than living in normal tissue. Thomas explained that the virus is a noxious entity in the body, bypassing normal tissues to find its way to the cancer cells and wipe them out. He told Daily Finance, “the body mounts a normal immune response to the infection. Normally, the latest we ever find the virus in the body is a couple of weeks after the first injection, and then it’s completely gone.” Thompson says his company is beginning Phase 3 trials “for a marketable cancer treatment based on this technology in two years.” This treatment could result in the biggest medical discovery of the 21st century.
September 16th and 17th will be the Sixth Annual African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit hosted by the Prostate Health Education Network, Inc. (PHEN) in Washington D.C. This year’s summit focuses on enhancing partnerships with churches in the fight against prostate cancer.
The summit plans to fight against the saying “when America has a cold, African Americans have pneumonia” but in the context of prostate cancer. According to PHEN, Black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 60% higher, and die from the disease at a rate 150% higher than all other men, which is the largest racial disparity for any type of cancer.
In response, PHEN is looking towards outreach efforts with Black churches nationwide on their main session September 17th during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference at the Washington Convention Center. This is an effort that is based on the high numbers that came to PHEN’s first annual “Father’s Day Rally Against Prostate Cancer” this year, which was partnered with hundreds of churches across the country.
Attending the summit will be congressional leaders, as well as leaders from the National and Progressive Baptist Conventions and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Also expected to be there is Reverend Roosevelt Grier, former pro football player and prostate cancer survivor, along with survivor and R&B singer Charlie Wilson as a singing act.
“Our communities need to become the most knowledgeable to eliminate the prostate cancer crisis,” PHEN president and founder Thomas Farrington says. “Working in partnership with churches, in combination with our national survivor network and internet educational tools, PHEN will be able to reach into most Black communities in the country,” he adds.
The entire summit is free and open to the public. Prostate cancer survivors, church and community leaders and medical professionals are encouraged to attend. PHEN is a Boston-based, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Thomas A. Farrington, a prostate cancer survivor, and author of the books “Battling the Killer Within,” and “Battling The Killer Within and Winning.”